Kisumu Governor Anyang’ Nyong’o has asked the Kenya National Highways Authority (KeNHA) to consider building dual carriageways in the Lake Victoria region to reduce rising accidents.

Nyong’o (pictured) emphasised that national highways should be dualled as part of the road safety reforms. This, he argued, will help minimise deadly accidents.

The governor lamented that several accidents had occurred recently on roads in the region, noting that the situation required urgent intervention, including expanding roads to ease traffic flow.

Three survivors

Nyong’o spoke after the latest crash on the Londiani-Muhoroni road that claimed nine lives and left scores injured.

The Tuesday afternoon accident that happened in the Pangala area involved a trailer truck and a matatu.
The driver of the trailer was en route to Londiani when he lost control of the vehicle and veered off his lane before ramming the Kisumu-bound matatu, police said.

The dead included four women and five men.

“As a result of the impact, nine of the matatu’s occupants including the driver died on the spot, while another succumbed while receiving treatment,” a police report said.

Three survivors – a child and two adults – suffered serious injuries and were rushed to Jaramogi Oginga Odinga Teaching and Referral Hospital.

Driver fled

The driver of the trailer fled the scene soon after the incident and police were looking for him.

The bodies of the dead were taken to the St Vincent Mission Hospital mortuary in Muhoroni.

Immediate action was needed to expand the highways connecting the region to other parts of Kenya, Nyongo said in a statement, adding that this would help reduce deadly incidents.
Major roads

He noted that the latest accident could have been avoided if the road had been wide enough.

“As I join the people of Kisumu in mourning the dead, I wish to make a request to President William Ruto that major roads in this region, including the busy Busia-Nairobi highway, should be [dualled] to help reduce the terrible accidents like the latest one,” he said.